We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paula Bearden a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Paula, thanks for joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
I started my business in 2018 with hosting open Hip/Hop classes to kids once a week on Thursdays in Duncanville. Despite social media posts there were many nights no one showed up. Then I ended up having one regular who was the daughter of a childhood friend. By the end of the year I only had 3 kids who were consistent students. I think my “big break” came when the owner of the studio I was renting from changed and a lot of the tenants left but one tenant that I made a connection with (mostly during those nights that no one showed up for my class) became the new owner and told me that there was a slot open for Saturdays. I knew that a weekend slot for dance classes would change everything because that was the dance schedule I was accustomed to as a child; so I took the Saturday slot. At the same time I had another childhood friend reach out to me about being a vendor for a “kid friendly hair salon that was opening up in Cedar Hill , TX. This single event changed the trajectory of my company, I had a tutu on and a table and tent that displayed ballet and tap shoes. At this event I gained more customers then I had all year and some of those customers are still dancers of mine today. Being a vendor at different events turns out to be a successful strategy for my company. I get more registrants at pop up shops, expos, and grand openings being a vendor then I do with paid advertisements. After my first vendor event I would have to credit “word of mouth” for helping to scale my business. My dance parents are wonderful and I treat them with the upmost service because I realize they are going to be my best advertisement. When it comes to parents and their kids if they feel their children are having a great experience they are going to post about it and share with others. By 2020 the number of dancers I had more than tripled and I was offering 3 different classes as a opposed to one. Another new experience I offered my customers that I think definitely helped to scale my business is recitals and outreach performances. Kids see other kids performing and they want in on the action. It also helps when parent post beautiful photos of their dancers in their costumes- again free advertisement. Also, there is something about putting on a costume and make up under bright lights on a stage that is exciting for a little kid and I think is one of the reasons some of my dancers keep coming back. They want to experience the culminating event showing off their hard work in their pretty costumes! So in a nutshell, changing my schedule, vendor opportunities, understanding the power of word of mouth, and exhibiting the services we offer to the public (recitals in other words) have all helped me scale. Now we are in our own studio space and have grown so much that we have segmented into two other dance businesses.
Paula, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
There are many reasons I started my dance company. I started dancing at the age of three and at 8 years old I made up my mind that I wanted to have my own dance company one day. I was classically trained in ballet and tap, and later was introduced to jazz and hip hop. The older I got I realized having a background in formal dance training was not the most common thing in low to mid income minority communities. I always felt that having that background gave me an edge in other extra- curricular activities that I decided to involve myself in, so my dream for starting a company never faded. I started Zeal Dance Force Dance Company to offer formal dance training to underserved communities. We offer ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop . We also offer pageant coaching, private dance instruction and wedding choreography. Because we want formal dance training to be accessible to those who would normally not be able to afford these classes our tuition is comparatively low to other studios. We also offer scholarships and sibling discounts thanks to our supporters. The culture at Zeal Dance Force Dance Company is that we are a village, my dance parents look out for every child, and my instructors understand the power of creating a psychological safe space for each dancer that walks through our door. We have a great team, when someone registers their child with us you will get a response “We can’t wait to have you a part of the Zeal Dance Force Family” and we mean just that. We are different because we truly partner with our parents in making sure their kids are developing the dance skills/life skills they need to be successful; which is why parents are allowed to sit in and watch classes. This is very different from the norm but it works for our company.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
My relationship with social media is hot and cold.. Early in the creation of my business I sought out a marketing professional to help me and they taught me a lot of things about how often I needed to post, the use of hashtags, and the idea that people want to know more about “me ” as the owner behind the brand. Year later I still see that I get more interaction when I post pictures or videos of me interacting with my dancers or instructors. Also out of all the apps out there I realized after several trial and error attempts, Facebook is where I get the most interaction for our dance academy. I was catering to the younger crowd with my posts via Instagram and Facebook because most of my services are for children, but I realized my posts needed to cater to the parents and grandparents of those children. After about 2 years, I realized Facebook is where I get the most interactions and sometimes a static post gets more interaction then a reel. I get a lot of grandparents who see our posts and tell their adult children to sign up their child, and it works! Recently, I have started sharing more company posts to my personal Facebook page as well because I have more followers personally than on my business page and with the new Facebook feature of tagging all of your “followers” this has been a game changer! I am still trying to see which apps work for our wedding choreography business the best and what is the best social media outlet for our studio rentals. Advice for those starting to build your social media presence, know your audience! Ask yourself, What is the main demographic of your “true” customers?
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I am blessed with three instructors that are passionate about their roles in Zeal Dance Force. I do not think it takes much for me to motivate them because they believe in the vision and the purpose of our company. My first piece of advice is to continuously “sell” your mission and vision to your team. They have to wholeheartedly understand the “why” behind the services you offer and decisions that are made, and then remind them of the “why” which acts as a “refueling” technique on those hard days. My second piece of advice and perhaps the most important is to take an interest in getting to know your team members personally, Build a relationship, celebrate their birthdays and other big milestones. Remember important facts and show you care. I had a teacher show up to work despite the fact she was not feeling her best self, I quickly ran out to get her tea, cough drops and whatever she needed and then assisted her with class and then made sure I “verbally” stated “I appreciate your dedication.” My third piece of advice is to think of ways other then “money” that can show your appreciation. If we are doing something fun during a holiday for our dancers and our dancers walk away with candy, snacks etc. I make sure my instructors also have a gift or note of appreciation waiting for them in the office. I have made a couple of posts dedicated to highlighting some of my instructors and their strengths; sometimes just acknowledging their strengths in front of others can go a long way!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zealdanceforce.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zealdanceforce/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZealDanceForce/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/zeal-dance-force-lancaster?osq=zeal+dance+force
- Other: Our Wedding Choreography Services- https://www.instagram.com/zeal_weddings Website- https://zealdanceforce.com/wedding-dance-lessons/
Image Credits
Photos by Cerone Lacey Photography and Still Art Photography by KD